


Clear The Air.

by whatisthistho



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, OT4, Reunions, semi-angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-17 03:36:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1372447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatisthistho/pseuds/whatisthistho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Why now.” </p><p>“This is what you've wanted, yeah? You wanted a chance to clear the air. They were your best friends. As much as I dislike this, but they were your first love … or is it first four loves?” Alyx asked, smirk evident in his voice, causing Zayn to playfully kick him under the covers. </p><p>“Not funny.” Zayn mumbled, burying himself in Alyx’s chest. </p><p>Sequel to 'At least he's happier now'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clear The Air.

**Author's Note:**

> Might want to read 'At least he's happier now' before this one. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it, let me know what you think?

It’s been three years. 

Three long years.

Harry, Niall, Liam and Louis, on several occasions, were tempted to call Zayn. To their knowledge, he hadn’t changed his number and now that he was back in the limelight, they were able to keep track of where he was. 

The four of them were still together; they still made music, except they’ve changed their name because they just weren’t One Direction anymore. They’ve put out two albums since Zayn left but it didn’t sell the way it use to. They were sure that Zayn’s solo single sold more, if his single making it to number 1 on the UK and US ITunes charts were anything to go by. They hadn’t gotten a number one spot in the charts in three years. 

At first, Harry and Niall shut out Louis and Liam and they knew they deserved it. But they slowly forgave their two boyfriends over the course of the first year. During that year, however, Harry nearly left their relationship.

Twice. 

It’d been hard. There was quite literally an ache in their chests everyday because Zayn was no longer there. No matter how many times they tried to build up enough courage throughout those three years to call Zayn, the call was never made. 

*

Liam was fiddling with his phone; Zayn’s contact on screen. A million and ten things were running through his mind. 

‘What if he doesn’t answer?’

‘What if he rejects the call?’

‘What if he answers then realizes who it is and hangs up?’

‘What if his boyfriend answers?’

Liam didn’t know if he’d be able to handle that. 

Sighing, Liam decided it was do or die. (Okay, maybe that’s dramatic, but whatever.)

He hit the call button, taking a deep breath as he placed the phone to his ear. The ringing was loud in his ear and it felt like it’d been ringing for ages. 

After two more rings, there was an answer. Liam heard laughing, soft giggles that he knew, even three years later, knowing that it belonged to Zayn and his heart was threatening to beat right out of his chest as he waited for Zayn to speak.

“Alyx!” Zayn huffed and a moment later, the laughter resumed. 

“Stop! Stop! Someone’s on the phone. Probably thinks I’m a nutter. Babe! Oh god!” Zayn’s laughter roared louder and Liam’s heart clenched at the sound. He couldn’t remember the last time he heard Zayn’s laugh sound so genuine. 

Liam felt himself smile; the sound was like a beautiful melody. 

“Zeeeeee!” The must be Alyx.

Zayn’s laughter finally died down then abruptly stopped all together. 

Liam swears his heart was about to explode. 

“Who is it?” Alyx asked, sounding genuinely curious, but Zayn was quiet. 

There was a bit of rustling on the other end before a soft oh was heard.

Zayn must have answered the phone without looking to see who was calling. 

Liam’s heart was sinking, slowly. 

“Zayn.” Alyx said, his voice was so soft and concerned. If Liam was being honest, he’d listen to Alyx talk all day. 

Zayn was still quiet. 

He heard a sigh, then more rustling. 

“Liam? Zayn’ll call you back, okay?” Alyx. 

Liam swallowed and nodded before realizing he couldn’t see him. 

“Yeah.” Liam cleared his throat. “That’s- that’s fine.”

“Zayn. Don’t leave. Christ.” Alyx said, sounding far away to Liam’s ears.

Liam was about to hang up when Alyx spoke again. 

“Hey, Liam?” Alyx said softly.

Liam took a minute to reply, clearing his throat. 

“Ye-yeah?” 

“It was about time one of you called.”

Liam felt a lump in his throat and the tears filling his eyes.

Zayn had been waiting for one of them to call?

“I-I’m, I don’t-“ 

“Liam, relax. It’s fine. Zayn’s just- he wasn’t expecting it, not after… well. Just give him a few days. He’ll call you back- Zayn where are you going!” Alyx raised his voice only slightly at the end of his sentence.

“Fuck. I’ve got to go.” Alyx said before hanging up.

Liam let his phone drop to his lap, shaking his head slightly.

“Li?” Niall’s voice called. 

Liam looked up and tried to smile, but Niall didn’t buy it. He sat down and hugged him, his fingers running through his hair. 

“You called him, didn’t you?”

All Liam could do besides let the tears fall was nod his head. Niall smiled to himself but stayed quiet, silently holding his broken boyfriend. 

Niall knew how broken up about it Liam was, as well as Louis. But maybe they could fix thing, only if Zayn called back.

*

“Babe?” Alyx called, opening the door to their bedroom. 

Zayn was under the covers, covered head to toe. So many things were running through his mind. 

Why now?

Zayn heard his boyfriend call for him and sighed, peaking his head out from under the covers. Alyx smiled fondly at him, sitting down beside him and running his fingers through Zayn’s hair. 

“You okay?” He asked.

Zayn shook his head, big brown eyes looking up at his boyfriend.

Alyx pouted, lifting the covers and sinking down beside Zayn. Zayn automatically cuddled closer to him, resting his head on his chest. 

“What are you thinking?” Alyx asked.

Zayn stayed quiet for a moment before sighing deeply. 

“Why now.” 

“This is what you’ve wanted, yeah? You wanted a chance to clear the air. They were your best friends. As much as I dislike this, but they were your first love … or is it first four loves?” Alyx asked, smirk evident in his voice, causing Zayn to playfully kick him under the covers. 

“Not funny.” Zayn mumbled, burying himself in Alyx’s chest. 

Alyx chuckled, squeezing Zayn a bit tighter. 

“I’m here for you, you know that. I uh- I told Liam that you’d call him back. Told him to give you a few days.” 

Zayn hummed, slightly smirking. 

“You actually spoke to him? Thought you hated him the most?”

“I never said I hated him…” Alyx paused. “I said I disliked him the most. Hates a strong word.”

Zayn rolled his eyes, but smiled anyways. 

“Shut up.” He sighed softly, nuzzling his face into Alyx’s neck causing Alyx to shy away and laugh. 

Zayn looked up at him, eyebrow raised and smirk on his lips. 

“Ticklish, huh.” Zayn said, moving so that he was hovering over Alyx. Alyx looked up at him with wide eyes and shook his head. 

“Babe…” 

Zayn leaned down, his lips caressing the skin on his neck. Alyx bit his lower lip to keep from laughing. Zayn smirked against his neck, kissing it softly. Alyx’s hands moved to Zayn’s hips, squeezing slightly. 

Zayn moved his lips further up causing Alyx to let out a low giggle. The giggle that Zayn loved the most. He leaned up and smiled down at his boyfriend. 

“I love you, you know.” Zayn said. 

Alyx looked up at him, hand coming up to rest against his cheek.

“I know. I love you too.” He whispered, tilting his chin up as Zayn leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. 

*  
It’d been four day’s since Liam called Zayn. Louis was a bit shocked that Liam was the first to call. But they were happy, nonetheless. Louis was glad he didn’t have to speak with Zayn’s boyfriend. He probably wouldn’t have handled that well at all. 

Harry and Niall were sitting on the couch, watching a The Voice, causing a ruckus.

“Turn around, holy fuck. He’s so good!” Niall yelled, pushing Harry to the side as he jumped up. 

Harry glared at him before seeing the coach he wanted to turn around hit his red button. 

“Yes! Fuck yes, told you he’d want him!” Harry shouted to no one in particular. 

Liam watched on with fondness, they were taking a year off to get their lives together. They wanted to come out, but none of them were willing to speak up. They figured it’d happen in time. They weren’t as brave as Zayn. 

“Christ. You boys are so loud!” Louis said as he walked into the house, closing the door behind him. 

“Heard you lot down the driveway.” Louis said, chuckling as he placed a soft kiss to Liam’s lips, then Harry and Niall. 

 

“Lou! This show is intense! I wanna be on The Voice. How do I do it!” Harry said, jumping a bit in his seat. 

Louis chuckled, shaking his head. 

“I have no idea if I’m being honest.” 

Louis was about to continue when Liam’s phone started ringing. Liam shifted, pulling his IPhone out of his pocket, his heart dropping when he saw who was calling. He glanced up at Louis, Niall and Harry who weren’t really paying attention to him.

“Guys.” Liam said, his voice shaky, catching the attention of his boyfriends.

“It’s Zayn.” 

“Answer it!” Harry whisper-shouted like Zayn could possibly hear.

Liam’s hand shook slightly as his finger hovered over the answer button. Hitting it, he put it on speaker, the three boys huddling around him. 

“He-hello?” Liam cursed himself for stuttering. 

“Hi.” Zayn’s smooth voice filled the room. 

Harry bit his lower lip, trying to retain the smile threating to break through. Niall didn’t care, he smiled brightly.

Louis half smiled, fondly at the phone and Liam closed his eyes. 

“Zayn.” Liam breathed out. 

“Yeah… I uh, sorry it took, took four days to call you back. Just had to, you know. Gather my head.” 

“No, no. It’s fine. God. It’s more than okay Zayn. How- how are you?” Liam asked. 

“I’m good, how are you and the boys?” 

“We’re good, just. Yeah. We’re good.” 

The line went quiet for a beat, and then Zayn and Liam was talking at the same time. 

“Look-”

“Listen-“

Both boys chuckled. 

“Go ahead.” Zayn murmured. 

Liam took a deep breath.

“What are you doing this weekend? Think you can come out? I’d- the boys and I would really like to talk to you.” 

Zayn was silent, shifting could be heard. 

“I- Uh. Yeah. Okay. Where?” 

*  
They planned to meet up that weekend at a coffee shop. The coffee shop they always use to visit. 

Zayn was nervous, he had asked to bring his boyfriend along, not knowing if he could deal with this without the help of his love. 

The four boys hadn’t disagreed, just felt a bit more intimidated when really; it was four of them and one of him. 

It was 3:57pm and they’d agreed to meet at 4. 

Liam, Louis, Harry and Niall were seated in a corner of the café, waiting for Zayn and Alyx. This would obviously be the first time in three years that they’d see Zayn and first time ever meeting Alyx. They were nervous. 

4:03pm and Zayn walked in, fending off paps and fans alike, hand in hand with a gorgeous boy. Taking him in, the boys were speechless. Alyx was the same height at Zayn. He was maybe a shade lighter than him, had dark blonde hair and grey eyes. He dressed somewhat like Zayn, minus the leather jacket and he had a hat on his head. He was beautiful and they could understand why Zayn fell for him. 

Taking in Zayn, the boys hearts melted a little. Zayn finally had two full sleeves. His hair wasn’t done up, his eyes were brighter than they’ve ever been while with them. 

Zayn stopped short when his eyes landed on the four boys. Alyx stopped as well, his eyes shifting to them as well before looking back at Zayn and gently squeezing his hand.

“It’s okay.” He mouthed. Zayn looked at him and nodded, squeezing his hand back and biting his lower lip and trying to convey with his eyes that he loved him and appreciated him doing this for him. 

Alyx seemed to get it and smiled brightly, nodding towards the table.  
Zayn sighed inwardly before walking again. Once at the table, the four of them stood up, but paused, not knowing if they were allowed to hug him or not, their eyes shifting to Alyx. Alyx smirked and rolled his eyes, pushing Zayn gently towards them. Zayn glanced back at him with worried eyes, thinking the boys wouldn’t want a hug, but that was quickly erased from his mind when he was engulfed in a group hug for the first time in three years. Zayn hugged them back, biting his lower lip hard to stop his eyes from watering. 

Alyx shoved his hands into his front pockets, smiling fondly at the group. He glanced back towards the door with a raised eyebrow, knowing the pap’s were going to eat this up. 

Their hug lasted a long time, each boy just drinking in Zayn and Zayn drinking in the boys. His boys. Finally, He pulled away and cleared his throat, his hand-extending out to Alyx who gladly interlaced their fingers together. 

“This is Alyx. My boyfriend.” Zayn said confidently. 

“Hello.” Alyx said, nodding his head once, friendly. 

Liam, Louis and Harry all smiled kindly while Niall pushed Zayn aside, engulfing Alyx in one of his famous Horan hugs. Alyx chuckled, hesitating slightly, his eyes meeting Zayn’s dancing ones, before hugging him back, patting it gently before letting go. Zayn wasn’t kidding when he said Niall was a touchy one. 

Niall beamed up at Alyx before sitting back down along with the rest of them. 

Zayn’s heart was hammering in his chest, and as if Alyx could hear it, he grabbed his hand under the table. 

Louis was the first one to break the silence that washed over the six of them. 

“There’s a lot we want to talk about, if that’s you know, alright.” Louis said, his voice kind and soft. 

Zayn just nodded, ordering something to drink for both him and Alyx. 

Once their drinks arrived, Zayn turned his attention to Louis. 

Louis sighed, eyes averted. 

“This is a bit, odd. You know. Talking about this in front of Alyx but, there was a big misunderstanding.” 

“Don’t mind me, mate.” Alyx said, waving him off, eyes sparkling. Probably having fun with how uncomfortable they all seem.  
“Right.” Louis cleared his throat, eyes finding Zayn’s.

“Whatever happened, it wasn’t supposed to be like that. I- we just sort of fell together. We never forgot about you. I mean, I suppose at one point we did but it was only because you never acknowledged the letter we’d given you…”

“What letter?” Zayn asked, remembering when he’d overheard Liam and Louis all those years ago about some letter he’d never gotten. 

“What?” Louis eyebrows scrunched together. 

“You didn’t, you didn’t get it?” 

Zayn shook his head, his hand idly playing with the ring on his finger.

Harry’s eyes glanced down at Zayn’s hand, and oddly, instead of his heart dropping at the sight of an engagement ring on Zayn’s left hand, he felt himself smile. 

“We, we wrote you a letter. We didn’t know how to tell you about the-“ He paused. “Four-way relationship we were in.” Louis eyes shifted to Alyx, expecting judgment but all he found was curious eyes. 

“We wrote what we felt for you. We were- we wanted you too, Zayn.” Louis said, leaning back against the chair. 

Liam put his hand on Louis thigh and continued. 

“We had it all wrong. We were to blame for this. We as in, Lou and I. Harry and Niall tried getting us to talk to you but we were scared.”

Zayn looked down as he listened. 

“We’re really sorry, Zayn. We didn’t mean to hurt you or push you away.”

“I swear, I didn’t mean it when I said you should leave the band-“ Louis said but was cut off by Zayn. 

“Which time? The time you said it during the interview? Or the time you said it to Liam when you guys were talking in the room?” Zayn was trying not to sound bitter but he couldn’t help it. 

Louis flushed; not having known Zayn heard that.

“Neither time. I was just, I don’t know. I didn’t know how to feel. I thought you’d read the letter.” 

“What’d the letter say?” Zayn asked, eyes rising to meet Louis’, then Liam’s. 

“It said. Zayn. I know this is going to come as a shock to you but the four of us (Me, Liam, Harry and Niall) are in a relationship. We don’t understand it but it just works for us. We all love each other; have been in love with each other for a long time. Everything is perfect, except there’s one thing missing, that thing, or person rather, is you. We love you and you have no idea how much we want you to be a part of this. I know it sounds weird, trust us, we know. But we need you Z. you’re the missing person and all of us want you. We want you in every way. Please consider it with an open mind, yeah? We’re in this together. Love Lou, Haz, Li and Ni.” 

Zayn stared at Louis as he finished talking; his eyes had already filled with tears when he said they loved him. Zayn felt Alyx’s hand squeeze his softly, but he didn’t look away. His eyes were moving from Louis’ to Liam’s to Niall’s and to Harry’s. They were all watching him, sincerity in their eyes and he could feel their love even now. 

He took a shaky breath, letting it out and shaking his head.

He cleared his throat and glanced over at Alyx, wondering how he was dealing with what was just said. Alyx look solemn. His eyes held no malice. 

“Wow.” Was all Zayn could get out. 

“I- wow.” Zayn let out a breathy laugh, the tears falling at that but quickly wiped them away. 

All four boys felt their heart clench at that. 

“Zayn. I know it doesn’t make up for anything. Not now. But you needed to know that we didn’t leave you out. We wanted you.” Harry said softly. 

Zayn nodded, holding eye contact with him for a moment. 

“I- I understand. I get it now.” Zayn was stumped. 3 years ago he would have jumped for joy at the confession but now, he didn’t know how to feel. 

\-----------------

The table fell into a short silence. Zayn glanced over at Alyx, wanting to gauge his reaction to all of this. He hoped that this wouldn’t change anything between them. 

Alyx gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand gently which Zayn returned. He glanced back at the boys and smiled. 

“All is forgiven. Honestly.” Zayn began. 

Harry, Liam, Niall and Louis looked up quickly. 

“I mean, I never would have met Alyx if it didn’t happen. Alyx is amazing. Don’t get me wrong, yeah? I love you guys. I’ve always loved you guys but I think my life turned out pretty good in the end.” Zayn smiled again at the blush that graced Alyx’s face, then turned to face the boys. 

Harry smiled and nodded, leaning forwards and resting his chin on his fists.

Niall grinned, ear to ear. Happy that Zayn forgave them.

Liam and Louis still looked doubtful, probably because they’ve hurt him the most. 

“Look guys. I’m glad we got everything cleared up. Really, I am. But, it’s not going to change anything. There’s uh, there’s something I have to tell you guys.” Zayn glanced over at Alyx who nodded.

“Alyx and I are engaged.”

Harry and Niall smiled bigger than he’d ever seen, shouting congratulations at him and Alyx who just chuckled and nodded. 

“Thanks.” Alyx said softly. 

Louis and Liam smiled, though you could tell it was a bit forced. Zayn chose to ignore the watery look in their eyes. 

“Congrats, Z.” Liam spoke softly, his eyes softening as he said it. 

“Yeah, We’re happy for you. I’m glad you got what you deserved. You and Alyx make a lovely couple.” Louis said, small smile on his lips. 

Zayn blushed and looked down before chuckling. 

“Thanks, guys. Really.”

“So, Alyx. This is the part where we all threaten you. If you hurt Zayn, we’ll hurt you. You know that shite.” Harry said, smiling so that his dimples showed. 

Alyx chuckled, leaning towards Zayn and kissing his temple. 

“I’d never hurt him. He’s my other half.” He whispered, for only Zayn to hear, but the whole table heard and they all cooed at the loved up couple. 

Zayn smirked, pushing him away before pulling him back to plant a soft kiss on his lips.

“Love you.” Zayn whispered. 

“Love you most.” Alyx replied. 

Zayn then turned to face the boys. 

“You know, I’d love to know what happened to that letter.” 

*

Management sat at their desk after seeing the five boys reunite together after three years. He pulled out a file labeled One Direction. Opening it, he pulled out a letter and shook his head. 

“Bullocks.”


End file.
